Little Piece of Heaven
by QuietPianist
Summary: A collection of short SnK drabbles. Some AruHan, JeanSasha, and more to come.
1. I PICNIC (AruHan)

_(canon verse, at some point in the future, where everyone made it, they\them pronouns for Hanji)_

Armin and Hanji walked side by side, each carrying half of the food. Hanji had the blanket, and had draped it over their head to ward off the blistering sun. They both walked in silence, but it was not awkward or tense. It was the kind of comfortable, easy silence between two people who understand the need for silence sometimes, and who are at ease around each other.

The Survey Corps had reached the coast a few days earlier. None of them knew how, but they had done so with minimum casualties. They'd arrived at around midday, and would have thought that they'd reached a desert had it not been for the saltiness and humidity in the air, and the eventual crashing of the waves. For a good hour, the whole group was confused, never having seen, heard or smelt the coast before in their lives. But soon enough, a group of the 104th, Armin included, had chanced upon the beach. The humid air had rung with elated cries and laughter. They had raced each other to the sea, stopping short right where the sea licked the sand. There they teetered, until Jean, ever the embodiment of poise and level-headedness, had pushed Eren into the waves.

After that, everyone had quickly removed their boots and gear and jumped in. The rest of the day was spent splashing around or lying in the sun. In the afternoon, they'd split into groups to look for food. At night, they'd set up a huge bonfire and toasted to their fallen comrades. After that, and for a large chunk of the next day, a sombre mood had descended upon the Survey Corps.

But now, all morbidities were forgotten and done with and everyone was feeling a lot lighter. Amid some stutters, blushing, and encouragements from Levi and Erwin, Hanji had invited Armin out for a picnic. And so, they found themselves walking in the sweltering heat of midday.

After a while, and at an acceptable distance from the rest of the group, they stopped walking. Hanji set down the blanket and Armin set about setting out all the food.

Soon enough, they were eating. Hanji had managed to sneak some of the meat brought by the higher ups, and Armin had gotten Sasha to hand over the extra bread she'd sneaked into her rucksack. All in all, it was a pretty impressive spread of food.

Though they started out at a proper and respectful distance away from each other, they starting inching closer together as time and conversation wore on. They talked about everything: titans, books, their comrades, the sea... Soon enough, the midday sun had lowered itself into mid-afternoon and the two soldiers no longer had to squint so hard. By the time the afternoon wind started to cool the golden sand, Armin and Hanji were lying down, exhausted despite not having actually done anything, with the Armin's head on the Squad Leader's stomach. There they remained for some hours still, looking at the clouds and pointing out any interesting shapes among them.

Armin found himself smiling constantly. He'd never known that his superior and him were so alike. Maybe this was because, whenever they'd talked in the past, it had been about pressing matters: titan walls, Eren's titan shifting, Eren's rescue mission. The past months had been unbelievably stressful, and Armin was glad and thankful that Hanji was such good company. When they'd first started walking he'd been slightly stiff and apprehensive, but soon after they started talking he'd let his guard down completely, savouring the company of a similar mind to his. When the time came and he found himself lying on Hanji's stomach, he'd somehow failed to even question it.

They must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing Armin knew, the Sun was almost touching the horizon and the wind had grown considerably colder. This did not discourage Hanji, however, who just draped the blanket over themselves and the blond. They sat there, snuggled close and cozy, until dusk turned the clouds blue and purple and the horizon was a fiery orange. Suddenly, Hanji stood up, pulling Armin up with them. They strode over to the shoreline until both their feet touched the waves lapping up at the sand. The water was cold, and Armin's toes curled up when the wind blew past them.

But this was soon forgotten, because Hanji took his hand. They interlaced their fingers with his, and he felt his heart flutter, his head grow lighter, and all the blood in his body rush to his face. He couldn't hold back a smile. They both looked out at the sinking sun, relishing the feeling of the cold water coating their feet, and the warmth of each other's hand.


	2. II SPA DAY (AruHan)

_(Modern AU, Armin and Hanji are biological research partners working on a tough paper together)_

Hanji was hunched over their desk. They'd been hunched over their desk for the better part of the day, typing away furiously. They were in the middle of a long investigation into a DNA mutation that had arisen recently, and did not wish to be disturbed. This, however, did not stop Armin, their research partner, from slipping into the room.

"Why is it so dark?" he asked, making Hanji jump. They swivelled to face him, annoyed. He threw open the curtains and slid open the window, ignoring Hanji's frown. "There, that's better." He turned to his research partner and grinned. "Guess what?"

Hanji gave a noncommittal grunt and swivelled back towards their desk, beginning to type again. Armin sighed. He made his way over to the desk and waved two slips of paper in front of his partner. This grabbed their attention, and they looked at Armin, curious. Armin just grinned.

"Come on, just tell me," Hanji said, rolling their eyes. Armin handed them one of the slips. Their eyes widened in surprise. "A coupon? For a spa?!" Armin nodded. "But I'm so close to finishing I can't-"

"No! You're coming with me," Armin cut Hanji off. "You and I have both been working hard, and yes, we are close to finishing this paper. But if you don't take a break, you're gonna burn yourself out. So, tomorrow, we're having a spa day, and we're gonna treat ourselves."

They met at the spa, Hanji wearing their work clothes, clearly intending to go right back to the lab after they were done. Armin shook his head in mock disappointment and led them inside. An impeccably dressed receptionist took their coupons with a smile, typed rapidly, and let them know the massages available. She also handed them a small bundle that included a towel, a cloth hairnet, eye covers, and suspiciously large white underpants. Throughout all of this, her smile never faltered, never twitched. This unsettled Hanji to no end, and they partially moved behind Armin to use him as cover.

"Was she creepy or what?" they whispered to their partner once they were past the reception. Armin gave a noncommittal shrug. Hanji rolled their eyes and followed him to the first room they went in that day. It was dimly lit, fairly humid, and the smell of incense hung heavily in the air. There were two massage tables right in the middle, a stone fountain to the right, a table covered in flowers, incense and pebbles to the right. In the far left and right corners, two room dividers stood parallel. Armin went left, Hanji went right, and they both changed into their spa-issued underwear. They took up their places at the massage tables, and two masseuses appeared. They got to work, Hanji's masseuse mumbling now and then how _your back muscles are so tense, what have you been doing?_ Hanji relaxed gradually. At one point, while their masseuses were working on their sides, both their arms were outstretched, and their hands grazed. This set Hanji's heart fluttering, and they felt themselves blushing. Soon enough, however, the lighting, the smell, and the relaxing pressure from the masseuse overcame them and they dozed off.

Armin had to shake them awake, and he led them to the next station: a sweltering, stuffy sauna where they remained longer than either of them could actually stand. They left the sauna panting, red in the face, and gasping for air.

"Let's not do that ever again," Hanji gasped, and Armin nodded furiously. They took a few minutes to recover from the experience, and moved on to the last station. A white room, neither too warm nor too cool, with two massage tables covered in saran wrap. They both sighed inwardly in relief. Once they were in position, lying at their tables, two masseuses came in and proceeded to cover them in a brown substance. Hanji's first thought was that it was mud, but it was smoother and smelled far sweeter. Once they were fully covered, barely able to stifle their giggles, the two masseuses placed a slice of cucumber on their eyes and, for all the researchers knew, left them there to sit for a while.

At first, there was silence.

"Hey, Armin," Hanji spoke barely above a whisper. They snickered. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," Armin hissed back, starting to laugh as well. "I bet you look hideous right now." Hanji let out a loud chuckle. "I bet you look like some sort of cucumber-eyed monster!" Armin's hisses turned into hysterical giggles.

"Shut up, you probably look the same," Hanji yelled. At this, they let their laughter loose, rising in pitch gradually. Eventually, one of their cucumbers slid off their face and fell to the floor with a wet _splat_. "_Crap!_"

"Look what you've done," Armin cried, nearly breathless with laughter. Hanji opened their freed eye and turned their face toward their partner. They saw him, lying still, all but vibrating from their laughter. A wave of warmth washed over their body while they looked at him. They'd never seen Armin so carefree, so relaxed. They'd never had this much fun just laying still. No, they'd never had fun with a day of relaxing. Their definition of fun usually revolved around work, and research.

They sighed a happy sigh and smiled. "Thank you, Armin. I owe you one."


	3. III CLUBBING (JeanSasha)

_Modern AU_

* * *

The music was loud, the lights were too bright and the drinks were disgusting. This was not Sasha's idea of a good time. Worst of all, their 'Girls' Night Out' had been interrupted when Mikasa received a call from a very distressed Eren, talking about some group project or other. After that, Historia and Ymir left together, leaving Sasha alone with Annie until their rides home arrived. Not that Sasha didn't like Annie, but she wasn't the liveliest clubbing companion. So, when Annie excused herself to go to the bathroom, Sasha couldn't find it in herself to offer to go with. That would only end up in even more forced conversation and tense silences. That could only worsen a night that was already ruined.

But not going with ended up badly for her anyway.

Backed up against the bar, Sasha tried desperately to find a way out of the strange man's grasp. His breath, bitter with the smell of alcohol, warmed her face and made her dizzy. His raspy voice sent shivers down her spine. He was using his body to keep her in place while he spewed nasty pickup line after nasty pickup line, and Sasha couldn't find the right opportunity to ask him to kindly sod off.

She made to move, saying that her friend "got totally wasted and is probably in need of immediate help", but the man sat her back down with a heavy hand on her shoulder and waist. Sasha's stomach clenched.

She looked around for the bartender, or for Annie, or for anyone. She prepared herself to shout, to scream and kick if the man didn't remove his hands from her body in the next few seconds. In the end, it was not necessary. Just as she was ready to burst, she felt someone push themselves between her and the strange man. His heavy hands left her body, and Sasha was able to breathe easy. But neither the man nor her saviour seemed quite ready to leave yet.

"Hey, what the…" the man was not drunk enough to fall over with a single push, but he was tipsy enough to be unable to put up much of a fight as Sasha's saviour shoved him away.

"That's enough, stop bothering my _girlfriend_," Sasha's saviour- a young man with honestly ridiculous hair and a voice that grated Sasha's ears- said. Sasha felt her cheeks grow warm. The way he'd said it, the word _girlfriend_. It sounded weird on his lips, but somehow the force he'd put into it made it feel true. Truer than it actually was, anyways.

Sasha's _boyfriend_ snaked his arm around her waist. It felt awkward and forced, but it seemed to be enough for the strange man to leave in a fit of tipsy rage. As soon as he was out of sight, Sasha's saviour snatched his arm away and made to leave before hesitating and turning back.

"Hi, er, sorry about that. I-I'm Jean, just thought I'd help you out. I'll be leaving now." He waved goodbye, bowed his head, and turned on his heels. Sasha watched him make his way through the crowd, her "thank you" caught in her throat and her hand still in mid-wave.

Grabbing her purse, she made to follow the man, _Jean_. As luck would have it, a particularly popular song came up and the crowd seemed to swell up. Sasha was pushed and shoved around, and she lost sight of her saviour. Making her way to the edge of the dance floor, Sasha sighed dejectedly.

A small, warm hand touched her shoulder. Annie.

"I think we've waited long enough. Let's just go home, we can share a cab."

Sasha sighed and followed Annie's lead. Once in the cab, Sasha heaved a big sigh. Annie remained quiet, but sneaked a piece of napkin with scribbled on it into her purse, with a small smirk on her lips. It wasn't until the next morning while she was cleaning out her purse that Sasha read the message on the napkin.

_I didn't catch your name. Give me a call? _

_Jean K. _

How's that for a really sappy, really cliché ending?


	4. IV TEARS (AruHan)

_Modern AU, they/them pronouns for Hanji as usual_

* * *

Armin looked up from his book. It was quiet. Too quiet. It had been too quiet for a while now. Setting the book down, he got up from his recliner. He made a small tour of the apartment, checking every room. All of his flatmates were out except for Hanji, or so he had thought. Maybe they had gone out after all.

He reached the kitchen door and a small sniffle stopped him in his tracks. He peered through the doorway and, sure enough, there was Hanji. They were leaning over the counter, with their back to Armin. To his shock, he saw as Hanji's back shifted, and they continued to sniffle. _Are they crying?_

Armin was frozen in shocked. He'd seen a lot of bizarre things since moving in with his current flatmates, from practicing speeches in front of the bathroom mirror with no lights on to actual madmen who perched on top of the refrigerator after midnight, but a crying Hanji? Never.

He stood as if transfixed for a few moments longer, watching as Hanji repeatedly sniffled and rubbed at their face with the back of their hand. Finally, he moved forward up to his flatmate, and placed a hand tentatively on their back.

"Are you alright? Y-you can talk to me if you like," he offered them a smile once they looked around, eyes puffy and nose runny.

"Oh, Armin," Hanji rubbed her nose. "It's alright, I was just-" they motioned to the cutting board behind them -"cutting some onions." Armin blushed and, flustered, tried to excuse himself, but Hanji just giggled. "Don't worry about it." They punched him playfully on the arm. "It was very sweet of you to be so concerned." With a final smile, they turned back to their cutting and Armin, cheeks still aflame, went back to his reading.

* * *

**This is a really short update, I _know_. Things have been hectic but have finally calmed down and I can get back to writing yay**


End file.
